Global Pandemic Part II: Sequel Escalation

[Moonlit_Angel]

It’s odd, to me. This focus on making sure we aren’t too mean to Trump in all this.

Of course he didn’t invent the virus. But we had ample warning and he refused to start testing and (along with Fox News) predicted it would be gone by now because he didn’t want anything to affect the single argument for his re-election — the economy.

There’s also the whole “I’m giving supplies to governors that kiss my ass” thing.

No other president would behave this way.

Seriously, if Obama or Hillary behaved this way, I guarantee the right would waste absolutely no time in holding them accountable. And rightly so! If a Democratic president behaved like this, was this inept in their response, they would absolutely deserve to be raked over the coals, too. And I would like to think, and hope, all of us on the left would be just as critical of them.

But no, for some reason, Trump can't ever possibly be held accountable for anything he says or does (or doesn't do). Somehow he's just totally untouchable and anyone who keeps trying to make him take responsibility for his actions is just being "mean", or just part of the evil deep state that wants to take him down.

It's insane.

There is also a generally interesting thing in that if you look at countries currently led by women, Germany, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Norway they have handled the situation with a lot more efficiency and clarity, locking down sooner and managing it better.

This honestly doesn't surprise me.

 

[BEAL]

 

[Jerry Dunk]

[tweet]1249331164445380609[/tweet]

Failed state.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Trump retweeted a tweet with the hashtag fire Fauci. Thin skinned narcissist man child-if he had any reading comprehension skills regarding what Fauci actually said maybe he wouldn't have flown into a Twitter rage fest on Easter Sunday. But alas, no.

He's going to fire Fauci, honestly I can't believe Fauci has lasted this long.

 

[Magnus Maximus]

Trump retweeted a tweet with the hashtag fire Fauci. Thin skinned narcissist man child-if he had any reading comprehension skills regarding what Fauci actually said maybe he wouldn't have flown into a Twitter rage fest on Easter Sunday. But alas, no.

He's going to fire Fauci, honestly I can't believe Fauci has lasted this long.

That would be the straw for me (never been a true trump supporter, but a Republican) but that kind of pure incompetence and lack of judgement can’t be justified. Fauci never really questioned trumps decision; he answered logically- well no shit if we locked down earlier there would be less deaths. That isn’t a hit on trump it’s just logic, it’s a balancing act between over and under reacting. If that bruises your ego as a leader; you shouldn’t be a leader. We make decisions that sometimes cost lives, that’s what the CINC does. Accept it and own it. I am not a never trumper - but if Fauci was fired I would be.

 

[Magnus Maximus]

View attachment 12454

I am sorry but this is bull shit

Obama
H1N1. 12,500

CDC) estimates that from April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, there were 60.8 million cases, 274,000 hospitalizations, and 12,469 deaths

Joplin tornadoes: 180

Hurricane sandy 285


But guess what none of these are Obama’s fault - just like the other disasters weren’t Bush’s or Trumps fault either -

 

[BEAL]

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1249712404260421633?s=21


https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1249712413219397632?s=21

States rights, right ?? He really does think of himself as a king.

I hereby declare the US is open!!

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Relax, it was clearly a joke of a figure with good humorous merit. Bern ghuzzzi was like, the fakest and most pathetic rally cry ever for Fox News. The response to that was easily the same as right now.

I also don’t think you can count every Covid death against the administration. It’s incredibly hard to measure what damage the poor preparedness has caused... because we don’t know what the prepared parallel universe looks like.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1249712404260421633?s=21


https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1249712413219397632?s=21

States rights, right ?? He really does think of himself as a king.

I hereby declare the US is open!!

Yes he does think he's a king. Everyone I've seen and read says it is not his decision. Of course they're fake news. But my own understanding of how this works, and how it has to work so that the virus doesn't spread like crazy again, tells me it's not his decision.

I hereby declare that our King is a fool.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

[tweet]1249331164445380609[/tweet]

Failed state.

Failed state and corporate greed and just paying lip service to caring about their employees. Tragic, and she was surely a very special person.

After all the lip service paid to grocery store workers now, will they be rewarded financially and with good benefits? No.

This really is the great equalizer, for those who don't think grocery store workers and others are as important and vital to our lives as doctors and nurses and first responders. That's not me btw, I never felt that way. But this proves that they're on the same level, and need the pay and benefits and protections that they deserve.

 

[anitram]

He's going to fire Fauci, honestly I can't believe Fauci has lasted this long.

He can't stand that anybody has better approval ratings than him and that anybody's perceived criticism of his gets airtime.

We are moving into the cover-up and gaslighting portion of the pandemic now, where a new version of history will be told. Trump saved us all from certain death.

And we all know that when Trump behaves like he has something to cover up, it's because he has something to cover up.

 

[BEAL]

He’s going to declare the economy is open, and when most states do not heed to his recommendations he will scream and moan about how they’re horrible, incompetent, and biggest point the reason for all the failure + deaths.

This is all setting up the blame to shift to the States. Mostly the blue states since we have the hardest hit metro areas (as of now)

 

[BEAL]

https://twitter.com/helenkennedy/status/1249767683802923016?s=21

This could go in either thread

Greatest collection of economic minds in history?

 

[Irvine511]

That briefing was *insane* today.

 

[Irvine511]

https://twitter.com/helenkennedy/status/1249767683802923016?s=21

This could go in either thread

Greatest collection of economic minds in history?

Josie and the Sycophants.

 

[BEAL]

That briefing was *insane* today.

Has Trump said one word about the deceased ? Any condolences? Anything ? I truly don’t know.

Every one of these press , i mean rallies, is about him.

He clearly was hurting over the weekend by the articles that came out with damning evidence of inaction and indifference.

Today instead of providing any update he had Fauci backtrack his comments and just now played a campaign video highlighting how strong of a leader he was before this broke out.

Fox carried it live. CNN and MSNBC cut away

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

That briefing was *insane* today.

I'm glad my power went out at 5. Still out. I'm sure I could watch the briefing on my phone somewhere. But nah, I'm good.

 

[anitram]

Are they running promotional videos as part of the briefing now? You guys can’t survive this guy...

 

[Magnus Maximus]

Josie and the Sycophants.

Wow that is funny; freakin awesome. But now that song is stuck in my head

 

[LemonMelon]

Really didn't care for the creepy, desperate authoritarian energy wafting from today's televised Trump rally. Doesn't really become him to pull the "look at me...I am the president now" card after weeks of attempting to recuse himself from the situation and absolve himself of blame.

You know who else doesn't like creepy, desperate authoritarian energy? The vast majority of Americans. I hope he keeps swinging his tiny dick around until November because it's embarrassing and reflects poorly on his entire administration. If he's betting on Americans loving wealthy wannabe autocrats who pretend states' rights aren't a thing when it's convenient, he's not making it easy on himself.

 

[BEAL]

As bad as he is right now, he’s only gonna get worse.

 

[LemonMelon]

Fuck, this made me cry

[TWEET]1249787434319085568[/TWEET]

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I am sorry but this is bull shit



Obama

H1N1. 12,500



CDC) estimates that from April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, there were 60.8 million cases, 274,000 hospitalizations, and 12,469 deaths



Joplin tornadoes: 180



Hurricane sandy 285





But guess what none of these are Obama’s fault - just like the other disasters weren’t Bush’s or Trumps fault either -

12k deaths over the course of a year is tragic.

New York State is nearing 10k deaths in 3 weeks.

This virus was always going to be bad. Hillary winning wouldn't have changed that.

Trump's 4 year erosion of the federal government and his utter incompetence has made things worse. It cut down on our ability to respond.

His racism and nativism didn't make a Hurricane hit Puerto Rico. It made his response worse.

He's a disagree.

 

[LemonMelon]

The day has reset on Worldometers, so here's a numbers update.

Third day in a row in the US with fewer cases, down 7,000 (21%) from Friday. 500 (25%) less deaths in the last 24 hours than Friday's peak, with fewer still yesterday. This is important because there is typically underreporting that happens on the weekend that results in a Monday spike, which is to be expected on a holiday weekend in particular, but that did not happen this week.

Worldwide there has also been a daily drop and cases are down 23,000 (24%) from Friday. The growth rate in deaths has dropped from 10% last Tuesday to 5% for two days in a row. That growth rate is the lowest since March 9.

It's only a handful of days so hardly a game changing data point, but those are very significant decreases. I know it's too much to ask, but please, please let's not fuck this up.

 

[anitram]

Physical distancing is absolutely working.

Responsible countries will slowly open up in phases. Travel will have to be phased in extremely carefully and slowly. Likely create regions (for example, North America + Caribbean could form one travel region and not allow Europeans, Asians, etc until a vaccine is out, similar regions could be formed elsewhere) to better be able to control spread...because we won't get this to zero.

I trust many world leaders who have shown themselves capable of understanding what it takes.

Trump is the absolute worst because he doesn't have the excuse of being a despot from a "shithole" country that has no real economy and/or ongoing armed conflict and/or is on the verge of bankruptcy, and/or is a de facto or a real dictatorship.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

The responsible thing to do here is to not ease up anything at all.

The responsible thing to do is to keep shit the way it is until the rate is near zero, then adapt society until a treatment or vaccine exists.

 

[anitram]

The responsible thing to do here is to not ease up anything at all.

The responsible thing to do is to keep shit the way it is until the rate is near zero, then adapt society until a treatment or vaccine exists.

The reality is that there are many people (myself included) who could continue to work remotely until a vaccine is out. This includes most professionals (lawyers, people in finance, marketing, design, IT, etc). There is ZERO reason for any of us to return to the office for many months, or even until a vaccine is out.

What is trickier are smaller businesses that are currently closed but do need to start functioning to some extent. We also have closures of non-critical healthcare (dentists, physiotherapists, speech pathologists, etc) that cannot go on for 2 years. Schools are another issue - you cannot expect parents to work full time for 2 years at home while also home schooling and taking care of babies/toddlers. That is wholly unsustainable. I know, because it's the reality that I'm living.

My guess is that this is a lot more weather-sensitive than we think and the northern hemisphere will go relatively quiet and then the second wave will hit hard starting around October/November. Meaning that schools will open in September only to be shut back down a couple of months later.

 

[iron yuppie]

We also have closures of non-critical healthcare (dentists, physiotherapists, speech pathologists, etc) that cannot go on for 2 years. Schools are another issue - you cannot expect parents to work full time for 2 years at home while also home schooling and taking care of babies/toddlers. That is wholly unsustainable. I know, because it's the reality that I'm living.

Thank you for saying this. I feel like there is a sentiment out there (not necessarily from anyone here) that everyone should be content to quarantine for x number of years until a vaccine as though there are no costs involved. And the costs aren't just economic - the longer people are locked down, the more intensive the related health issues will become for vulnerable populations, like those with mental health struggles, those in abusive relationships...the list goes on.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I’m just crossing my fingers that after all of this is done we take a good hard look at how stupid and wasteful office buildings are. For 1/100th the footprint you can have a corporate network filled with systems in a tiny cooling space, dispatch your employees, and get this... rent office space a la carte!

I’m not denying that face to face interaction is highly valuable. It is. But most work is done for a lot of professions in one’s office. Why we can’t just work a la carte (maybe employee benefits or some shit) and do WeWork or whatever... I don’t know. Or share corporate in-office systems with another employee so you take up half the office space... remote one week, in the next.

Office space is stupid. Companies can save bajillions on land and/or rent, bajillions on issuing their employees multiple computer systems... employees can save loads on transportation... the environment doesn’t suffer...

I get that not everybody can do this, of course. But why we have this traditional model is... dare I say.. unamerican.

I love when I can make a capitalist argument to save the environment (and to let me roll out of bed at 8:45 AM for work [emoji177]).

 

[Hewson]

The day has reset on Worldometers, so here's a numbers update.

Third day in a row in the US with fewer cases, down 7,000 (21%) from Friday. 500 (25%) less deaths in the last 24 hours than Friday's peak, with fewer still yesterday. This is important because there is typically underreporting that happens on the weekend that results in a Monday spike, which is to be expected on a holiday weekend in particular, but that did not happen this week.

Worldwide there has also been a daily drop and cases are down 23,000 (24%) from Friday. The growth rate in deaths has dropped from 10% last Tuesday to 5% for two days in a row. That growth rate is the lowest since March 9.

It's only a handful of days so hardly a game changing data point, but those are very significant decreases. I know it's too much to ask, but please, please let's not fuck this up.

My guess is that this is a lot more weather-sensitive than we think

That was my first thought after reading the numbers Travis posted.
Would be both good and potentially bad. But at a minimum it would buy us time to work on treatments & vaccines and if it returns we have experience with the social distancing practices which would make a return to them quicker to implement and hopefully more effective from the jump the 2nd time around.